On their sophomore album Tell Me That It’s Over, L.A.-based alt-rock band Wallows document the never-ending chaos of finding your way in the world. Over the course of 10 wildly original tracks, Braeden Lemasters (vocals, guitar), Dylan Minnette (vocals, guitar), and Cole Preston (guitar/drums) channel their deepest anxieties and self-doubt into a chameleonic sound informed by everything from lo-fi post-punk to indie-folk to early-’90s dance-pop psychedelia. In a thrilling continuation of the sonic exploration first begun on 2019’s Nothing Happens—one of the most highly streamed debuts from any band that year, featuring their platinum-selling single “Are You Bored Yet? (feat. Clairo)” —Wallows ultimately collage their musical DNA into larger-than-life pop songs graced with equal parts emotional depth and dizzying imagination.

The follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2020 EP Remote, Tell Me That It’s Over finds Wallows working with producer Ariel Rechtshaid (Vampire Weekend, HAIM, Charli XCX), a multi-Grammy Award-winner the band chose based on his left-of-centre sensibilities. Mixed by Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, MGMT, Tame Impala) and largely recorded at Rechtshaid’s house, the result is a prime showcase for the prismatic musicality Wallows first began honing by playing shows on Sunset Strip in their early teens and later refined by performing at major festivals like Lollapalooza, Coachella, and Austin City Limits. For Wallows, the feverish eclecticism of Tell Me That It’s Over has much to do with the unbridled spontaneity behind its creation. “The whole thing was sort of a guessing game as went along,” says Minnette. “We trusted our instincts and rolled with the process, and because of that the songs came together in ways we never could have pictured.”